Cocoabears, This Year's Best-selling Gift

     "Ready or not, here I come!" Dansi moved away from a snowberry tree. Giggling along the way, the wherfy sprinted across the snow-covered plains. She stopped to look inside burrows, holly bushes and even checked behind the snow yooyu flowers that swayed in the squall, but her friend was nowhere in sight.

     Advia watched her friend search and laughed to herself. There was a rustling from behind. She turned her head and saw a single whirlygig bobbing around in the primula bush. Certain that the noise from the flower would draw Dansi's attention, she turned to look for a new hiding spot. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Advia and Dansi both stopped, scared, as an avalanche sent a tremor through the western region of Terror Mountain.

     Dansi looked around, but couldn't see Advia anywhere. The snow now covered the ground in heaps. "Advia! Where are you?" she cried out. The avalanche crossed over the cliff, crushing the snowberry tree and yolkalias below. "Advia!"

     The shock of seeing the flowers instantly taken by the snowslide like a hungry beast caused Advia to gaze around her in alarm. The flame-like buds of the yolkalias that she loved to make into gifts for Dansi were all gone. As tears gathered in her eyes, she breathed heavily and yelled for Dansi. As the quaking continued, her senses faded away, causing her to collapse.

     The snow faerie, Taelia, sensed the avalanche and cast a defensive spell from afar that surrounded the two petpets in shells of unbreakable ice. Within these shells magic sprinkled over Advia and Dansi, transforming them to better survive any blizzard. By the time the avalanche reached its end, the felf had been painted white and the wherfy snow.

     At the Petpetorium deep within the cramped, echoing caves of Moltara, a marlock stood inside his mini rock pool of lava. Lumag was talking to two friends, a goyalbotnik and an oop, both sitting on a stone cabinet. The magma ixi shopkeeper had closed up for the day, but forgot to lock the inventory in a storage chest. Earlier that day, a customer bartered a bag of items, only found in other regions of Neopia, for a petpet.

     "If you're not going to open it, then I will." Lumag stepped out of his rock pool to stand next to the storage chest.

     The goyalbotnik, Olroba, glided down from the top of the cabinet to land in the middle of the shop to examine the chest with Lumag. "No way. We're in this together, you and me." Olroba looked at its friend and barked eagerly like a hound. "On 3!" The two petpets lifted the top of the chest and found the assortment of trinkets. A glowing bottle of fire snow caught the Marlock's eye.

     Mitun, an oop, watched from his perch on top of the cabinet. "What do you think this is?" Lumag asked. Mitun was trusted by all the other petpets because every day it observed from the window, learning a bit about the outside world each time. "It's really warm," Lumag continued as he handed the bottle to Olroba.

     Mitun buzzed as it stood up to scan the object. "It seems you have in your possession a bottle of fire snow. Snow is the solid form of water in freezing temperatures found normally anywhere in Terror Mountain."

     "Freezing? What is that?" Olroba turned toward Mitun, perplexed.

     Mitun accessed its memory to find the answer. "Because we're robots, you and I cannot feel the temperature of the air around us. On the other hand, Lumag is a living petpet and so can sense the differences in what is cold and what is hot."

     "What do you mean differences? I don't think I've ever felt anything cold. What is cold anyway, Mitun?" the marlock asked.

     "The opposite of hot." There was a soft whirling sound as it accessed the information. "We live in Moltara, so nothing can stay cold here. The heat of all the magma and steam-powered machinery causes the air to be so hot that a single drop of water evaporates in a matter of a second."

     "Okay. And what's water?" Lumag was trying hard to understand the new words Mitun was using.

     The oop's buzzer sounded again as it sat down, unsure how to answer that. Olroba opened the bottle and offered it to Lumag. The marlock reached inside to grab the snowball inside. "So what does it feel like, Lumag?" Olroba asked.

     As the delicate texture slowly fell apart in his forepaws, Lumag was struck with a desire to learn more about snow. "Olroba, this is the softest thing I've ever touched. It's . . . beautiful." He knew his friend couldn't perceive the idea of softness, but he had no other words himself to properly describe his newfound love for the fire snow that crumbled gently in his grasp.

     Seeing Lumag happy pleased the goyalbotnik, so it looked back inside the chest hoping to find more treasure. It found a shiny, blue necklace at the bottom and pulled it out to see the shimmering snowflake pendant attached to it. "I love this! Look at how it sparkles in the light!"

     Lumag felt the shift in the air as Olroba held the cold necklace in front of him. He reached out to touch the snowflake, amazed by its symmetry. "Wow! What is that? Why does it feel sort of like when I step out from the lava?"

     "The shape of that object is that of a snowflake, the crystallized form of snow. Perhaps, Lumag, you are at last sensing the differences in temperature from the necklace itself." Mitun buzzed once more in confusion. "Though how a snowflake can survive in Moltara, I cannot compute!"

     Lumag was intrigued by the mysterious pendant and fire snow. "Mitun, do you know where Terror Mountain is?"

     The oop beeped yes.

     "I want to go to Terror Mountain! Why don't we all go?" Lumag asked, excitedly looking back and forth at his friends.

     Mitun said it couldn't leave behind the other petpets that relied on it.

     "Looks like it's you and me!" the goyalbotnik, already standing near the door, called out to Lumag. The oop projected the image of Neopia's map for Olroba to scan and promised its friends it would not say a word to the magma ixi about their escape. "I'll carry you, Lumag. Now that it's in my memory, I can easily fly us there."

     Advia and Dansi woke from their magical sleep. When they went back to playing they discovered their new abilities. Made entirely of snow, the wherfy was now able to run faster than ever. She ran so fast at times that she couldn't stop before crashing into a tree, breaking apart her snowy limbs. The white felf, bestowed with revival magic, pieced the wherfy back together like a snowman anytime. Immediately after, Dansi would perform elegant pirouettes as she slid down snowy slopes, thanking Advia each time.

     Taking a short break from their game, the two friends suddenly realized they were in a new area they had never been to before.

     "Excuse me." A Christmas-painted snowickle appeared in front of the friends. "Could you please stop kicking up all the snow? I'm trying to find shiny objects for the toyshop and you're making it difficult!"

     "Toyshop?" Advia and Dansi looked at each other. "We're sorry. We didn't realize. Of course we'll stop."

     "Thank you. My name's Winhum. If you want to know more about the toyshop, it's right over there." The snowickle pointed to a small wooden shop in the distance.

     Dansi and Advia ran to it. Wanting to give Dansi something new, Advia told her to wait outside. She snuck in through the window and was stunned to see the unfinished toys scattered around. Fourteen felfs worked hard at their little stations, each struggling to make the toys by hand. One hundred fifty-three tries that day and 153 failures at building an actual toy.

     Advia padded over to the corner of the shop and found a few materials lying around. She quietly stitched together a burlap meerca the size of a bauble. Some snow from Dansi's body had brushed up on her while they were playing. While she worked, a few of the snowflakes fell onto the burlap, suddenly bringing the meerca to life! A smile broke out on Advia's face as she saw the cute toy looking up at her.

     "Hi, little one. My name is Advia. I can't wait for you to meet Dansi. What's your name?" The smiling meerca simply stared back, confused. "Right, I suppose I should give you one. How about Danvia?"

     After sneaking back out through the window, Advia ran toward Dansi to give her the gift. The meerca. Before she got there, Danvia saw the snowberries growing on a tree near where Dansi was waiting. It jumped out of Advia's hands and climbed the tree to nibble on the cold fruit, shouting, "Yummy neggs!"

     The wherfy rushed over to her friend, elated. "It's wonderful! What is it?"

     "A burlap meerca. I made it as a gift for you, only it came alive somehow." Advia turned her attention back toward Danvia as she reached up to coax the little pet from the tree. "Those aren't neggs, Danvia. They're berries."

     Flying out the Moltaran Caves and over the Northern Neopian Ocean, Olroba and Lumag stared in awe at the majestic glaciers below them. As Olroba descended toward the ground it noticed a shiny object reflecting in the light below. It landed on the rooftop of the wooden toyshop to investigate. "It's another bottle with snow inside, only this one glows green." He excitedly held it up so Lumag could see.

     A moment later, their attention was drawn to the ground where the two other petpets were calling out to Danvia, trying to get it out of the tree. Carrying Lumag, Olroba propped its wings back and glided down to greet them.

     After they all introduced themselves, the group looked up to see the meerca happily watching them, its mouth full of snowberries. Olroba flew up to grab the toy and handed it to Advia. Before she could thank it, Winhum appeared and demanded the goyalbotnik return the shiny bottle.

     "I don't know how you got your hands on my radioactive snow, but you give it back now!" the Christmas snowickle yelled in a tantrum. "I was using it as Christmas lights for The Fourteen Felfs!"

     "Who are they?" asked the curious Lumag.

     "We are the ones who work in this shop, but all your shouting is distracting us, that's who." A green felf walked up to the group. Thirteen felfs followed the first, curious to see what was causing all this commotion.

     "The Fourteen Felfs is our toyshop. May we help you with something?" said another from behind.

     Another felf then stepped forward and pointed at Advia. "I've never seen a white felf before. You are a felf, aren't you?" The other felfs all gaped at the unusual colour.

     Winhum interrupted. "They stole my bottle of radioactive snow. Give it back now!"

     The first felf stepped forward and placed one hand on Winhum's back. "Now, Winhum. I'm sure no one meant to steal anything. As a gesture of friendship, I say we let them keep the radioactive snow." The felfs explained their goal had always been to create the best toys in the hope that one day they might own and run an actual shop in Happy Valley.

     "So there's fire snow and radioactive snow? I wonder what'll be next!" Lumag said cheerily. The felfs told the marlock about the bookshops in Happy Valley where he could learn about the different kinds of snow as well as how to get there.

     A couple of the felfs watched and admired the adorable meerca munching on its last few berries. "What a splendid toy," they exclaimed, gleefully nicknaming it Cocoabear for its charming brown appeal. Advia explained that she had made the toy in their shop and apologized for trespassing.

     "No need to apologize," one told her.

     "What excellent craftsmanship," proclaimed another. "Please, you must show us how you made this amazing toy."

     "But I'm not sure how it came alive," Advia admitted. "I wouldn't have any idea how to show you that."

     "Oh no, that doesn't matter." The green felf looked embarrassed. "We've made a lot of toys, but we've yet to make one that doesn't immediately break after being played with."

     "Neggs!" Danvia loved the attention.

     One of the felfs smiled. "You should take it to The Neggery in the ice caves."

     "Ice caves?" Lumag was thrilled to get to see something new.

     The felf nodded and explained how to get there, then turned back to Advia. "Please, will you show us how to build a toy?"

     Advia blushed, wearing a sheepish grin. "I . . . Of course I will." She looked over to Dansi. "Would you mind taking Danvia to the caves alone?"

     Dansi grabbed one of Advia's hands. "I don't want to leave you, even for a little while. What if something happens and I need you to put me back together?"

     "We could take Danvia," Lumag pitched in including Olroba with a gesture. "The little one will be safe with us, I promise!" He held one paw over his heart as he made his pledge.

     Advia looked at Dansi who nodded in agreement. "I feel like we can trust them," the wherfy said softly.

     Advia looked at the goyalbotnik and marlock, trying to judge for herself. After a moment, she concurred. "What do you think, Danvia? Are you willing to go with Lumag and Olroba?"

     "NEGGS!" The restless meerca ran to the metallic paws of the goyalbotnik.

     Advia heaved a sigh of relief, chuckling at the toy's antics. "I guess we have our answer."

     The three flew off to the east while the girls went with the felfs inside the toyshop.

     Upon seeing the bustling town below, Danvia cried out in glee and wiggled around, accidentally slipping from Olroba's clutch. It fell to the ground, along with the snowflake necklace that had been hanging from the bolted pipe on Olroba's head, and rolled through the soft snow. Lumag and Olroba were unaware that Danvia dropped and so they continued on to land at the cave entrance of the snowy hamlet.

     Lumag quickly realized what must have happened. "Olroba, I can't find Danvia!" The petpets scurried around searching and listening for any sign of Danvia nearby, but only caught the attention of the passing neopets concerned with the ruckus. Olroba suggested that they go back and check the small woods they had flown over.

     When they got there, Olroba landed and scanned the area for tracks. Before it could finish the scan, it caught a glimpse of a twinkling light. Unable to resist a shiny object, it darted to the dazzling snowflake pendant dangling from a broken tree branch.

     Lumag caught up to Olroba and saw tiny footprints in the snow. "Don't those look like—" he began to say as he turned to Olroba, who joined in to answer, "Danvia's!"

     Up on a mountaintop, Danvia had scuttled off in search of a negg only to find a negg plushie sitting by the windowsill of a workshop. It ran through the entrance into the warmth of the candles by the door. The snow on its body swiftly melted away leaving the burlap meerca lying on the floor, damp and lifeless. When he heard someone entering, Donny walked to the front of his toy repair workshop. No one was there.

     Wondering if one of the local children had been playing a prank, he turned to go back to his work area. That is when he noticed the tiny meerca near the door. He picked it up and was impressed by its fine stitching. With a smile, Donny decided to give the little meerca a little bit of holiday cheer. He placed the toy on his worktable and picked out a couple of items from a box. Using the spare Christmas meerca mistletoe he had stored away from last year's Advent Calendar, he sewed on more than just a piece of fabric. With every intricate stitch from his expert hand, Donny unknowingly infused the loving magic of pure happiness into the burlap toy. As he clipped the last stitch, Danvia sprung right back to life. Donny laughed in joy as he saw the meerca run around and out his window while screeching for neggs.

     Lumag and Olroba were following Danvia's tracks when the gleeful meerca erupted from Donny's shop. They sprinted over to Danvia scampering out in the open and checked to make sure it was unharmed. Satisfied, they flew back to the ice caves for the neggs. The negg faerie, Kari, was completely enamoured by the merry meerca and she gifted the three friends one snowy negg each.

     The trio exited the caves and wandered around the village, totally fascinated by what they were seeing. "I never imagined there could be such a wonderful place so different from Moltara." Olroba was particularly entranced by figures gliding over the ice in what looked like a type of complicated dance.

     "It's beautiful," Lumag agreed. "There's so much all around us, I want to discover it all!"

     They explored a little longer, but soon the air grew colder and a blizzard developed. Running into the nearest building, they found themselves inside the Wintery Petpets shop. Lumag was immediately drawn to the proprietor's assistant who was a powtry. "Excuse me," Lumag asked him, trying to calm his shivers. "But are you made of snow?"

     "I am, Sir, yes. I have always been made of snow really, even before other petpets started turning into snow with the help of a painting device." The affable powtry was always happy to talk to his customers. "It's marvellous. I get to play outside, even when others are hiding away, even the snowbeasts."

     Though the storms were a daily occurrence in snowy Terror Mountain, its inhabitants had evolved within its chaos. And, with each blizzard, they had the advent of the holiday season to look forward to.

     "There's so much I want to learn here, but I'm not sure I can handle all the snowstorms," said Lumag, realizing the difficulty of staying in Terror Mountain. "Running through the snow was fun, but it was also cold. I know others also had to seek shelter, but I feel like I'm keeping my friends from enjoying the snow just because I'm not made for this type of environment."

     "You don't need to feel that way, Lumag." Olroba worried that their friend wasn't happy here in Terror Mountain. "We're a team and if we hadn't come into this store, we never would have met the wonderful powtry."

     "Thanks," Lumag replied.

     Olroba decided to change the topic. "I sure wish Mitun were here to enjoy this with us. With all that Mitun has learned, this place would be a gold mine for them to learn even more."

     "I bet Mitun is still seeing all sorts of new things back home. And now that I think about it," Lumag mentioned. "I'm not sure a book is the right way for me to go about discovering this new place."

     "Your best bet to explore Terror Mountain is finding a way to not feel so cold from a simple snowstorm," the powtry chimed in.

     "Yummy negg!" the little toy shouted with its snowy negg in both hands, cutting away the attention.

     "You're right, Danvia. I think it's time we went back to the toy workshop." Clutching onto Danvia with one forepaw and Lumag by the shell with another, Olroba flew back to the western mountains.

     Advia finished teaching the last green felf how to make a simple toy that wouldn't fall apart easily.

     "We are forever grateful to you for teaching us," the felf told her. "Is there anything we can do to entice you to stay? We would love it if you'd be our lead manager."

     Advia blushed, not at all displeased. "Oh," she exclaimed. "But I could never leave Dansi alone. She's my bestest friend in the whole world."

     "That is not a problem," another felf informed her. "We are also wanting her to stay and test our product before we sell it."

     Dansi's mouth was open in shock as she turned to Advia, but before they could say anything further, a barking grabbed their attention. Everyone ran outside to greet their new friends.

     "Yummy neggs!" Danvia squealed, its face covered in small crumbs.

     "You found The Neggery!" Dansi hugged Danvia close.

     "But it looks like you already finished eating your negg, Danvia." Advia was not at all surprised by its adorable eagerness.

     "It did," Lumag confirmed. "But Olroba and I still have ours, and since we know Danvia would enjoy them far more than we ever could . . ." The marlock and goyalbotnik handed their neggs to Danvia, who took them with joy.

     "Neggs!" But then Danvia surprised them all. Instead of eating them immediately, it took the snowy neggs, one at a time, and handed one to Advia and the other to Dansi. "Happy! Happy! Dan and Via, happy! Yummy neggs, Dan and Via. Happy Danvia!"

     Everyone laughed, delighted. Advia wiped at a happy tear as it slid down her cheek.

     Snow began to fall softly. Winhum stepped forward to speak with Olroba and Lumag. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you earlier. We all know you're from far away, but we, The Fourteen Felfs and I, are hoping you'll agree to stay."

     The marlock opened its mouth to respond, but before he could determine what he was going to say, the snowickle continued. "They . . . That is WE, we want to offer you a job." The snowickle turned to Olroba. "Like me, you're an amazing treasure hunter. Plus, the felfs saw how quickly you memorized the directions to Happy Valley. So, we would like you to not only help me hunt for treasure, but also be here to help remind the felfs the building steps for toymaking should they ever slip up and forget."

     Olroba was at a loss for words for the first time in its life, unable to even bark. Lumag chuckled at the silence and said, "I think that's a wonderful idea! Well, Olroba? What do you say?"

     The goyalbotnik turned to the marlock and promptly replied, "It's you and me, always."

     A shell of ice encapsulated Lumag. The girls who were familiar with the spell, stopped Olroba from interfering. Lumag, wearing the snowflake pendant for safekeeping, began to feel the frigidity of snow. The pendant glowed white. Crystallized ice formed across his chest and spread over his body. In moments, he became a fully painted snow marlock.

     Taelia had been watching from the top of Terror Mountain through her snowglobe. Using the magic residing in the necklace, she transformed the Moltaran petpet from its scorching state into delightful mounds of snow in the shape of a marlock. The ice shell cast by Taelia faded away, and the shell on Lumag's back turned into a sturdy boulder that further helped keep his snowy limbs intact.

     Weeks passed. The petpets all lived together in a snow house filled with snow furniture made by the white felf for her friends to enjoy. The toyshop had been renamed The Friends of Felfs. Word got around of the finely crafted toys made by the artisan felfs of the western mountains. Business was booming for the toymakers of Cocoabears, the popular miniature meerca toys named after Danvia, the 154th toy that came to life that one fateful day.

      The End.